Study Guide for Final Exam

I. Define the following terms:

Aristocracy
Constitutional liberalism (see Zakaria, 17)
Democracy
Direct democracy (hint: referendum and initiative)
Dual Sovereignty
Electoral College
Elite theory (Some versions of elite theory posit a small, cohesive, elite class that makes
almost all the important decisions for the nation, whereas others suggest that voters
choose among competing elites. See Zakaria, Chapter 6.)
Faction (as used by Madison in #10)
Filibuster
Ideology (a closely linked set of beliefs about the goal of politics and the most desirable
political order.) What are the differences between conventional liberals and
conservatives today on the size of government, taxes, and social issues?
Illiberal democracy
Iron triangle (Kingdon, Chapter 2)
Libertarian
Policy Entrepreneur
Policy Window
Politics (four definitions)
Presentismapplying contemporary norms to judge historical events.
Public opinion
Sovereignty

Stare decisis (pronounced ster-ay dih-si-ses, a Latin phrase that means to stand on
decided cases)
Universal suffrage

II. Short Answer Questions:

Explain how Amendments to the US Constitution are ratified.
Explain Edmund Burkes three theories of representation:
Delegate, Trustee, and Politico.
What is judicial review? Do the courts in most parliamentary democracies have the
power to void legislation on constitutional grounds?
When can the Supreme Court overturn precedent? Use as an example: Plessy v.
Ferguson (1896) and Brown v. Board of Education (1954). Another example is
Bowers v. Hardwick (1986) which upheld a Georgia law that made homosexual
conduct between two adults a crime by a 5-4 vote and Lawrence v. Texas (2003),
which overturned all remaining state sodomy laws.
What is the Supremacy Clause? (see Article VI, Clause 2)
Which Amendment has the establishment clause? What does this mean?
What is the gender gap in recent American elections?
Discuss three theories of American democracy: 1. majoritarianism, in which government
does what the majority wants; 2. elite theory, in which the real power lies with one or
more elites; and 3. pluralism, in which organized interest groups contest for power.
Which theory best describes how and why American government functions today?
Explain.

III. Questions on Kingdon:

Why does Kingdon use the garbage can model to describe agenda setting in the federal
government? (Chapter 4)
What is a policy window? (an opportunity for advocates of proposals to push their pet
solutions, or to push attention to their special problems. Metaphor alert: [P]eople who
are trying to advocate change are like surfers waiting for the big wave. see Chapter 8)
Explain how indicators (poverty), dramatic news (plane crash), or a sudden crisis
(Katrina) gain attention of policy-makers, rising to the top of the policy agenda.

Why do some problems come to occupy the attention of governmental officials more than
other problems? (The answer lies both in the means by which those officials learn about
conditions and in the ways in which conditions become defined as problems. Chapter 9)
How do elected officials judge the mood of their constituents? How do decision makers
interpret the national mood? (Chapter 7)
What is jurisdiction? (the legal authority to act) What is turf in the context of
congressional committees? What is bureaucratic turf? Why is everyone in government
so committed to protecting and defending turf?
Who leaks information on controversial policy issues in Washington, DC? (almost
everyone)
What is the relative importance of president and Congress? Within the executive
branch, how important are political appointees as opposed to career civil servants? In
Congress, what are the respective contributions of staff and members? Do agenda items
well up from the public, or is the process better understood as a top-down sequence?
Within the public, what is the place of general public opinion, as contrasted with
organized interest groups? How often do ideas come from people like policy analysts,
researchers, academics, and consultants, or are such people regarded as quaint
irrelevancies? How important are the mass media in focusing problems, or do media
report attention rather than create it? ... How much do ideas like equity or efficiency
affect the participants? More broadly, what values affect the processes, and how much
are people motivated by their desire to change the existing order to bring it into line with
their conception of the ideal order? ... How much does feedback from the operation of
existing programs affect the agenda? (Chapter One)

IV. Zakaria:
Liberal democracy is often understood as a political system structured by free and fair
elections, the rule of law, a separation of powers, and the protection of basic liberties of
speech, assembly, religion, and property. Zakaria defines these conditions as
constitutional liberalism. Why does he think democracy is flourishing while liberty is
not? (17-21)
Liberty comes not from chaos but from order? Explain. (24-27)
A liberal, in the 19th century, was someone who advocated for personal freedom from
arbitrary authority, usually by the government or organized religion. Which ideology
today best reflects this view: liberals, conservatives, libertarians, socialists, anarchists,
Bolsheviks?
Why does Zakaria argue the Roman Republic was a model for government? (32)

The protestant reformation weakened the power of the Roman Catholic Church. Did it
also enable kings and other nobility to gain power? (39-42)
Explain the growth of capitalism and the emerging middle class in advancing the idea of
personal freedom in England. (No bourgeoisie, no democracy. 45-48)
Is culture destiny? (51-58)
Are wealthy nations more likely to sustain democracies? (69-87)
Compare the policy priorities of Russia and China over the past two decades: which
chose to liberalize the economy before its political system? What happened to Russias
GDP since 1991? (Chapter 3)
Explain the concept of the tyranny of the majority in developing democracies, using
example of India. (Chapter 3)
Is Islam incompatible with constitutional liberalism? (Chapter 4)
Why has the oil wealth of the Middle East not fostered dynamic economic development?
Constitutions were meant to tame the passions of the public, creating not simply
democratic but also deliberative government. Explain. (155-159)
What theory of representation is Edmund Burke articulating on p.168?
Has the spread of democracy made government too large, too rigid, and too responsive to
public opinion? (Chapter 5)
Why have the political parties in America become so weak? (Chapter 5)
Does the author embrace the California experiment with direct democracy? Explain.
(187-198)
Has government become too responsive and less responsible? (Chapter 5)
What happened to the American elite? (228-238)
Why does the author conclude The deregulation of democracy has also gone too far.
(239-43)
When Americans are asked what public institutions they most respect, at the top are the
Supreme Court, the armed forces, and the Federal Reserve System. What do they have in
common? (241)
What is delegated democracy? (246-248)

Why is Iraq called the 51st state? (Afterword)

V. Hold-over Questions from the Mid-term Study Guide:

Do you know the dates of the Declaration of Independence (July 4, 1776) and the US
Constitution (September 17, 1787)?
Can you explain the authority granted to the following branches of government?
Congresssummarize Article I; the Presidentsummarize Article II; the Judiciary
summarize Article III. Does the latter mention judicial review?
Can you define the word faction as used by Madison in Federalist Paper #10, and
summarize his argument? Is a republic superior to a pure democracy? Do you agree with
Madison?
Compare and contrast Madisons view of democracy as a young man (focus on his
distrust of political parties and faction in #10) with his mature reflections of majority will
(as cited in Dahl, Chapter 2).
Garry Wills argues that Congress was given predominant powers compared to the
executive and judicial branches of government. Would Madison agree with Wills? (See
Federalist paper No. 51).
Dahl likes proportional representation of national elections using a parliamentary system.
Can you describe some advantages of this system? Would this system work in the US?
What are the advantages of electing a president to a 4-year term, and having a Supreme
Court rule on the constitutionality of actions by Congress and the Executive Branch?
(Dahl, Ch. 5)
Can you explain the concept of illiberal democracy, or liberal constitutionalism? (Must
read the Russell article: [G]overnments produced by elections may be inefficient,
corrupt, shortsighted, irresponsible, dominated by special interests, and incapable of
adopting policies demanded by the public good. (page 9 of 11) Do you think the US is
headed toward becoming an illiberal democracy? What is the fate of Iraq? Explain.
Why did the Framers decide to use an electoral college for presidential selection? Did
they not trust the people with a direct, popular election?
How can presidents be removed from office? What are the standards for an impeachable
offense? (Read the Richard Pious article)
Can you explain the intent of the Bill of Rights? Which of these ten Amendments do you
think is the most important? Why?